Split wire guide

ABSTRACT

A wire guide for facilitating the entry of a stripped wire end into a terminal prior to crimping of the terminal onto the wire. The guide is split into sections mounted to the crimp die sections. The sections are separated to allow the crimped terminals to be removed from the crimp dies. The split faces provide an inclined surface to aid the feeding of the terminals out of the crimp die. Also, exposed edges of the guide are rounded to prevent shearing of the wire on movement of the crimp die.

United States Patent [191 Morgan et al.

51 Jan. 16, 1973 SPLIT WIRE GUIDE Inventors: Thomas Edward Morgan, Cleveland Heights; George Frank Kaminski, South Euclid; Francis J. Mraz, Macedonia, all of Ohio International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, New York, NY.

Filed: Aug. 18, 1971 Appl. No.: 172,685

Assignee:

U.S. Cl ..29/203 0, 29/203 F Int. Cl. ..H0 1r 43 94 Field of Search "29/203 D, 203 P, 203 R, 203 DT References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Mraz ..29/203 DT 3,537,167 ll/l970 Lawson "29/203 D Primary Examiner-Thomas H. Eager Attorney-C. Cornell Remsen, Jr. et al.

[57] ABSTRACT A wire guide for facilitating the entry of a stripped wire end into a terminal prior to crimping of the terminal onto the wire. The guide is split into sections mounted to the crimp die sections. The sections are separated to allow the crimped terminals to be removed from the crimp dies. The split faces provide an inclined surface to aid the feeding of the terminals out of the crimp die. Also, exposed edges of the guide are rounded to prevent shearing of the wire on movement of the crimp die.

6 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJAH 16 1975 3.710.483

sum 1 UF 2 28 FIG. 1 l

FIG. 2

54 C c A 34 r J x INVENTORS ATTX PATENTEDJAHIG I973 3.710.483

SHEET 2 0F 2 FIG. 3 FIG. 5

Thomas E. Morgan GERC ERKflM A SK/ ATTY SPLIT WIRE GUIDE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is designed for use with devices similar to the press shown in US. Pat. No. 3,423,815 issued to Paul J. Spangler on Jan. 28, 1969 for Fluid-Actuated Crimping Press, the patent having been assigned to the assignee of the present invention. In that press, a cam depresses an upper die onto a lower die to crimp a terminal barrel about a wire conductor to firmly affix the ferrule to the wire.

An earlier invention disclosed in US. patent application Ser. No. 99,597 filed Dec. 18, 1970 and assigned to the assignee herein, shows a device for facilitating the insertion of a stripped wire end into the barrel while the barrel is resting in a crimp die adjoining the guide. The wire and barrel are quickly positioned in the crimping press to thereby shorten the time interval between press operations by simplifying the manual wire insertion assembly step.

The present invention provides an improvement over that shown in the application noted. The present invention is especially useful where the bore or barrel of the terminal is small. In such applications, the wires being of small diameter, bend easily. Further where the wire is multiple strand wire, the strands catch and hang up on the edges of the barrel. The wire must be retracted and the strands twisted and another attempt made at feeding the wire into the terminal prior to the crimping operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION To alleviate the problems noted, we have devised the split wire guide shown and described herein. Our wire guide is split horizontally so each section mounts on the respective press dies such that the upper movable die carries with it the upper guide section. The terminal is automatically advanced by tape feed to feed a terminal to the press on each press cycle. The feed places the terminal on the combined lower crimp die and wire guide section. The upper guide section is spring-loaded downwardly to form a wide entry which funnels and directs the wire into the terminal barrel. The upper die can then be depressed to crimp the wire within the terminal. Crimping, of course, affixes the wire in the terminal barrel. The guide further has a downwardly inclined exit slot formed by raising the upper guide section through which the crimped assembly (including wire and terminal) may be removed from the assembly area.

Use of a wire guide such as our improved one becomes especially important when using stranded wire of small gauge which isto fit within a small diameter uninsulated terminal barrel. We have found that the wire. strands tend to hang up at the entry to the terminal barrel, in spite of the chamfer on the entry edge of the bore. Of course, a manual feel is needed to insert the wire in the terminal.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a new and improved wire guide for use in a terminal wire crimping press.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a new wire guide having a split-section funnel adapted to align a wire with the mouth of a terminal barrel into which the wire is to be inserted.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a new split guide for wire insertion which has one section spring loaded toward the other section to form a funnel to enable ready insertion of the wire into the terminal barrel.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent when the accompanying drawings are viewed in conjunction with the detailed description which follows:

FIG. 1 is a front view in elevation of a Crimping Press in which my invention is mounted;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 22 of FIG. 1, with a terminal mounted therein and a wire being fitted manually into the terminal barrel;

FIG. 3 is a view in section of the upper die and guide section of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a side view in section of the lower die and guide section of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a front view of the elevation of the die and section of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a front view in elevation of the upper guide section of FIGS. l-3 and 5; and

FIG. 7 is a front view in elevation of the bottom guide section of FIGS. 1 2 and 4.

Turning to the drawings in detail, in FIGS. 1 and 2, we show a press 10 of the type shown in the US. patent to Spangler et al. cited above. The press has a bottom die holder 12, a counterpart upper die holder 14 and suitable lower and upper crimping dies 16 and 18. Retaining screws 20 secure the dies within the respective die holder as is well-known in the art to allow one die (usually the upper die) to be moved by a ram 28 into engagement with the lower die under the control of the press to crimpingly connect a terminal 30 to an insulated wire 32, with the wire free end 34 stripped of insulation 36 resting in the closed barrel of the terminal.

With the upper die 18 and ram 28 retracted to the position of FIGS. 1 and 2, the lower die 16 provides a cradle-like concavity 40 for the terminal 30. A typical terminal has a flat annular portion and a wire receiving barrel 31 portion extending therefrom. The concavity 40 may be adjustable in one form or otherwise; different shaped dies may be used for terminals of different dimensions and shapes. In any event, a terminal is fed into the press for crimping, and is positioned so that the terminal barrel has its central bore disposed horizontally with the terminal resting in the cradle of the die.

The guide 50 of the present invention comprises a split block including a lower section 52 and an upper section 54. Each section mounts in front of the counterpart crimp die as seen best in FIGS. 3 and 4, the mounting being made using the same mounting screw 20 which holds the die to the respective die holders.

The lower die 16 has an inset 60 in its front wall 61. Step 63 protrudes from the rear wall 64 of the lower guide block section and mates with the adjoining lower die.

The upper section 54 has a vertically elongated slotted opening for receiving upper retaining screw 20 in a manner allowing relative movement of the guide section relative to the upper die. As can be seen in FIG. 3, there is an inset 72 in front wall 73 of the upper die 18 providing a shoulder 74 below which is spaced vertically from a step 76 protruding from the rear face 78 of the guide block. With the upper die in its normal position, the upper guide block section is spring-loaded downwardly by means of paired compression springs 80 bottomed within sockets 82 in the upper section top wall 84. Springs 80 have their top end resting against the underside face 86 (FIG. 1) of the upper die holder 14 to bias the upper guide section away from the die holder.

The guide sections when mated have a central passage 90 formed within the mating faces 92 and 94 respectively of the sections 52 and 54. This passage is of nominal diameter through the rear walls of the sections and leads into a conic funnel opening 96 tapering outwardly to the guide block front face 98 with an enlarged funnel mouth 100.

Viewed from the front in FIG. 1, the guide block mating faces 92 and 94 have a horizontal edge surface 101 at the left of the central passage, and to the right of the central passage, the mating faces adjoin with a declivitous surface 102. Further the comers adjacent the passage 90, especially at the nominal diameter section, are broken or rounded to prevent damage to a wire during crimping.

The machine while at rest is in the position of FIG. 1, with the dies separated. A terminal is advanced into the cradle from the tape 110 (FIG. 1), as is well-known in the art. A sprocket wheel feeds the respective terminals into the cradle, one at a time, as is well-known in the art.

From this position, the upper die and the upper guide section are lowered to an intermediate position adapted to close the guide sections to provide the funnel entry to the terminal barrel. In this position, the upper section is spring-biased into a mating relationship with the lower section providing the funnel entrance for wire entry. The wire is grasped on the insulated portion and the face end is inserted into the funnel and its passage until the insulation shoulder contacts the funnel walls indicating maximum penetration of the wire free end into the terminal barrel. The upper section may yield slightly as the wire is being inserted to lessen the possibility of loose strands catching in the guide passage thereby minimizing the insertion problems.

With the wire resting firmly in the terminal barrel and the insulation shoulder contacting the funnel walls, the ram is actuated to lower the upper die through a crimp operation. During the crimp operation, the upper guide section may rise slightly relative to the upper die holder against the force of springs 80.

With the crimp complete, the upper die is then retracted and the assembled terminal is removed through the declivitous slot.

We have found that a slot declivity of approximately 12 from the horizontal allows ready loading of terminals into the cradle and removal of same with a minimum of consumed time.

Further, as mentioned, with all sharp edges in the mating guide faces and the passage broken or rounded, the wires will not be sheared during the crimping operation.

Further as can be seen, the guide should be as close within the funnel and the edges of the terminal barrel.

We claim:

1. A wire guide for easing the assembly of a stripped wire end into a terminal comprising: a guide block of rigid material split into an upper and a lower section, said guide block adapted to be positioned adjacent the entrance to the terminal, said guide block including a funnel passage therethrough, said passage being inset into both of said sections, said passage having a wire exit area no greater in area than the area of the entrance to a terminal, and means for separating said sections yieldably to permit the positioning of a terminal therebetween to enable ready entry of a wire end through said passage into the terminal.

2. A wire guide as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is declivity in the mating edges of said section to permit removal of the assembly.

3. A wire guide for use with a terminal crimping device for assembling and crimping a terminal barrel about a wire end, the guide comprising: a block of rigid material adapted to be positioned adjacent the entrance to the barrel, and split into a first and a second section, a guide passage in adjoining section faces of said block, said passage tapering toward a work area of diameter no larger than the entrance to said barrel, terminal supporting means, means for mounting the first section of said guide adjacent said supporting means to position said passage in line with the barrel of a terminal resting on said supporting means, a movable member in said crimping device, the second section of said guide block connected to said movable member, said movable member cooperative with supporting means during the crimping operation to crimp said terminal on a wire end, and means for separating said sections to permit removal of a crimped terminal and wire from the work area.

4. A guide as claimed in claim 3, wherein there is means for biasing said second. section yieldably toward said first section to form a funnel therebetween leading to said terminal barrel.

5. A guide as claimed in claim 3, wherein said crimping device comprises a press including cooperative dies for effecting said crimping, and means for affixing said first section to a stationary one of said dies, and for affixing said second section to a movable one of said dies.

6. A wire guide for use with a terminal crimping device adapted to crimp a terminal barrel about a wire end, the guide comprising: a block of rigid material adapted to be positioned stationarily adjacent the entrance to the barrel, a tapering guide passage in the front face of said block, a first portion of said passage tapering toward a work area of diameter no larger than the entrance to a barrel, terminal supporting means, means for mounting said guide adjacent said supporting means to provide a guide to facilitate wire entry into said barrel, a movable member in said crimping device, said movable member engageable with supporting means during the crimping operation to crimp said terminal onto a wire end, and an inclined face of said guide declivitous from said guide passage to permit removal of a crimped terminal from the work area. 

1. A wire guide for easing the assembly of a stripped wire end into a terminal comprising: a guide block of rigid material split into an upper and a lower section, said guide block adapted to be positioned adjacent the entrance to the terminal, said guide block including a funnel passage therethrough, said passage being inset into both of said sections, said passage having a wire exit area no greater in area than the area of the entrance to a terminal, and means for separating said sections yieldably to permit the positioning of a terminal therebetween to enable ready entry of a wire end through said passage into the terminal.
 2. A wire guide as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is declivity in the mating edges of said section to permit removal of the assembly.
 3. A wire guide for use with a terminal crimping device for assembling and crimping a terminal barrel about a wire end, the guide comprising: a block of rigid material adapted to be positioned adjacent the entrance to the barrel, and split into a first and a second section, a guide passage in adjoining section faces of said block, said passage tapering toward a work area of diameter no larger than the entrance to said barrel, terminal supporting means, means for mounting the first section of said Guide adjacent said supporting means to position said passage in line with the barrel of a terminal resting on said supporting means, a movable member in said crimping device, the second section of said guide block connected to said movable member, said movable member cooperative with supporting means during the crimping operation to crimp said terminal on a wire end, and means for separating said sections to permit removal of a crimped terminal and wire from the work area.
 4. A guide as claimed in claim 3, wherein there is means for biasing said second section yieldably toward said first section to form a funnel therebetween leading to said terminal barrel.
 5. A guide as claimed in claim 3, wherein said crimping device comprises a press including cooperative dies for effecting said crimping, and means for affixing said first section to a stationary one of said dies, and for affixing said second section to a movable one of said dies.
 6. A wire guide for use with a terminal crimping device adapted to crimp a terminal barrel about a wire end, the guide comprising: a block of rigid material adapted to be positioned stationarily adjacent the entrance to the barrel, a tapering guide passage in the front face of said block, a first portion of said passage tapering toward a work area of diameter no larger than the entrance to a barrel, terminal supporting means, means for mounting said guide adjacent said supporting means to provide a guide to facilitate wire entry into said barrel, a movable member in said crimping device, said movable member engageable with supporting means during the crimping operation to crimp said terminal onto a wire end, and an inclined face of said guide declivitous from said guide passage to permit removal of a crimped terminal from the work area. 